I’m a Penn State alumnus and a winter sportsman¹ so when it came time to get helmets, I decided to rep the alma mater.

Or to paraphrase my friend Ouij², if you are going to go “sliding across a wind-blasted frozen hellscape” protect your head.

Skiing

Oh, about 15 years ago, I wore a helmet on the slopes for the first time. I was quite pleased with the experience – added safety and yet…comfort. My head stayed warm, but not too warm and if I fell, I’d have a layer of polystyrene between my cranium and the ground.

The next Christmas, my father said he’d give me a ski helmet. I said, I’m getting a white one, I have an idea.

I found a source for helmet tape and applied it to my new bucket.

Voila!

It went over well on the slopes of Blue Knob, about 50 miles from Happy Valley.³ Sometimes I wear a Penn State hockey jersey⁴ as my outer layer to complete the look.

Painting the stripe

Years later, I thought I lost the helmet (along with a box of jerseys, including that hockey sweater) in a move. I was crestfallen. While I didn’t document the process, I spray painted a blue stripe on my next white helmet.

It looked okay, but up close I could see where the paint bled past the masking tape.

Thankfully, my wife found a box with the helmet and the jerseys buried in the basement when we were getting ready to move again. I now had TWO Penn State ski helmets.

Broomball

For the uninitiated, broomball is very similar to ice hockey. It’s the same basic rules, however we:

• Run instead of skate – organized leagues play on freshly resurfaced ice, just like hockey, in special shoes.
• Our sticks are more like lacrosse sticks with a hard plastic “broom” head. The sport was originally played with actual brooms.
• In lieu of a puck, a broomball is about the size of a grapefruit and inflated to about 2-3 PSI.

I first played broomball during some pick-up games as a Penn State undergrad. The dorm organization would organize them. We used real brooms then and played on “dirty” ice in regular shoes. I prefer hiking boots for dirty ice.

I also got to play after Washington Capitals games a few times⁵⁶ with the DC Penn State Alumni chapter and some pick game at the Caps iceplex.

Getting a “broomball” helmet

Around 2017, I discovered Capital Broomball/District Broomball⁷. I went to a few pick-up games, including some outdoors at District Wharf⁸ and in late 2018, joined for my first full season.

That Christmas, my wife bought me a hockey helmet and naturally, I told her to get a white one. This time, I decided I need to complete the look in a more formal way than spray paint.

I went online and found ProTuff decals sells helmet tape and ordered some.⁹

I removed the brand stickers from the sides and added the helmet tape. Aligning with the front and back part of the helmet was a little challenging, but I made it work.

Since then, I generally ask to be on blue or white teams for the league season. A couple of seasons, we were even given jerseys by the sports complex we rented ice from too.

Another nice feature of the stripe – it was easier for my kids to spot me on the ice when they come to watch me play.¹⁰

Breaking out the spray paint again

When broomball resumed after 18 months due to COVID-19, I decided to get some facial protection. I originally went with the “bubble”¹¹ but I found was it tended to fog up. Broomball specific wire masks¹² were developed shortly thereafter. I splurged and got one of those. Naturally, I wasn’t satisfied with the plain metal look, so I decided to paint blue.

I wish it were a little darker blue. I may spray on a black layer and then another blue when I repaint it between seasons to see if that darkens it up, but overall, I’m really pleased.

A prelude to my helmets

During the Beaver Stadium expansion to 100,000 seats, my future wife Erica worked for her father’s steel erection company. While she was primarily doing office work she did go on-site to take photographs for the company web site. She was given a foreman’s helmet – white. I think we both had the same idea – it should have a blue stripe.

Navy electrical tape wasn’t available then or now, so we got the next closest thing. I still have the roll of tape.

Why am I the only one?

Other than stickers, I don’t see a lot of custom winter sports helmets on the slopes or ice.¹³ Hockey goaltenders and motorcyclists get airbrushed helmets, but skiers, not so much.

Football

A football based ski helmet isn’t a big stech – I found a custom Michigan Wolverines helmet¹⁴ and I think the past I also saw the New York Football Giants and maybe the Pittsburgh Steelers. Those wouldn’t be too hard to create. If you can find a gray helmet, Ohio State could be done with tape from a home improvement store. Notre Dame¹⁵ would just need some gold spray paint. There are lot of designs that would scale well on a ski helmet.

As far as I know, the Penn State ski team doesn’t wear “Penn State helmets” so maybe I’ll provide an unsolicited recommendation. By the way, not seeking out and joining the Penn State Ski Club was one of the worst decisions of my college years.¹⁶¹⁷

There are NFL helmet covers out there, but that’s just not same.

Hockey/Broomball

Hockey helmets are a little different – NHL teams never did anything other than put a team logo, or now, ad on their helmets. The only college teams that really embrace mimicking their legendary football helmets are Penn State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Princeton. The four Big Ten programs even got written up in the NY Times in 2017.¹⁸

District Broomball has had a fair share of alums from those schools. Have I suggested to those players that they customize their helmets?¹⁹ Yes, every season. Probably more than once. I understand it’s a little trickier for the Michigan guys, but Buckeyes, get it done!

If I pick other activities that need a helmet…

…you can bet I’ll do this to those helmets too. If I add whitewater kayaking²⁰ to my hobbies, I’ll do that. I considered getting a closed bicycle helmet for winter riding, but decided that was excessive.

Gain the respect your peers on the lift and rink

If you play either of these sports, make your helmet something special. It doesn’t just have to be football. Maybe you like Star Wars – there are plenty of rebel pilot decals out there. Just something other than the plain black helmet. Have fun!

Footnotes²¹

1. don’t hate winter, use it ↩︎
2. He came up with that in 2016 before becoming known for other things. ↩︎
3. It was good to have something fun and positive during that difficult time to be a Penn Stater. ↩︎
4. Confirmation bias or trendsetter? I first started wearing a hockey jersey on the slopes in 2006. I noticed others started doing it not long after it. Hmmm. ↩︎
5. Penn State vs. Pitt, the first time ↩︎
6. Penn State vs. Pitt, the second time ↩︎
7. The league has alternated between names – it seems we’re District Broomball now. ↩︎
8. Pandemic casualty – I miss them so much. ↩︎
9. In retrospect, I should have gotten dark navy, mine is a shade lighter than Penn State blue. ↩︎
10. My oldest is now 16 and eligible to play the league. He outscored me in his first season! ↩︎
11. My son now wears that on his helmet, which isn’t customized. Yet. ↩︎
12. My friend Nathan has a standard hockey cage, but he dremeled out some of the upright bars. ↩︎
13. Slopes, ice – they’re same thing on the east coast, amirite? ↩︎
14. $1,200? That’s like two season passes… ↩︎
15. Ugh, too soon? ↩︎
16. I’ve told my sons that they ought to find the ski club their first week on campus wherever they wind up going. Will I make them a helmet based on their college? Duh. ↩︎
17. So was not going skiing every weekend on a student discount lift ticket. My ski buddy and I lament this every time we ski together. ↩︎
18. Wayback machine link – SYAC against the paywall ↩︎
19. I’m not sure the Miami University alums, roughly a third of the league, would be interested though. ↩︎
20. Sticking to sea-level kayaking for now – learn more at my dckayaking.com site. ↩︎
21. So. Many. Footnotes. ↩︎